Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Things to come.

I've been busy between home and work, the resulting silence extending from blog posts to comments on others' blogs and to anything resembling correspondence. I'm taking a little break now both because I need one and because so much information's coming through this week.

It's been a rollercoaster of revelations for fans of Wizkids' Heroclix since around 10pm Eastern Tuesday night, when a simultaneous blast of information was being given to retailers at a trade show in Las Vegas and to all of the fans online.

Because it's a decent - if self-serving and definitely ad-speak, some of it bordering on Stan Lee-isms - summary of what's coming up, I'm lifting the following from something posted to Wizard magazine's site. I'll add any comments or expansions of my own in green. After this line if it's not in green, I didn't write it:

REVISED RARITY
With its upcoming sets, WizKids is reworking the rarity model of the figures. Currently, HeroClix figure rarity is based on the collector’s number of the figure in the set, with lower-number figures being more common than higher-numbered ones. Many dealers and fans believe it’s based on the rookie/experienced/veteran play level of the figures, a common misconception.

Beginning with June’s Avengers set, there will be only one version of each figure in the set (not the current three versions of the same sculpt in rookie/experienced/veteran levels). There may be an “experienced” level Iron Man for instance, but not rookie or veteran; it will simply be a figure that represents that point in his heroic career. These will have a more understandable common (white marking)/uncommon (green marking)/rare (silver marking)/super-rare (bronze marking) collectibility scheme.

There will be approximately 60 figures/individual sculpts in each set.

[Notes: I suppose the "approximately" is meant to cover situations where they play around with chase figures... though the question of how rare the upcoming "super rare" class will be is already being raised again and again. Set designer Seth Johnson said that he thought they'd be roughly what the uniques were -- not being clear as a reference to the current rarity or the way they used to be, when only 8 were in a case -- either way we're not talking about Zombie or DC Origin chase figure rarity, which was roughly one per two cases. If "super rare" will now take on a specific numerical probability then we're either not going to see any more characters of the rarity level of the zombies, or we're going to have trouble every set.

I very quickly came to strongly support the shift away from slavish choices between REVs and uniques, immediately seeing what they were driving at. Instead of a mere 40 characters in a set now we'll see 60, and all manner of odd, also-ran characters now have a vastly greater chance of showing up. Seeing the U-Foes or Salem's Seven or similar team members show up - not to mention odd-ball ones like Bi-Beast or the Harpy - all suddenly become vastly more likely. More character variety, more specifically crafted and intended dials, and all in a smaller set structure -- it's a nice combination.

The clearer rarity designations, along with the 5-figure boosters and some other touches and references along the way suggest that Star Wars minis have been the single greatest influence on the marketing and production/presentation structure changes. One of the earliest glowing comments I read from many people who started into the Star Wars game last year was how they knew they'd get a rare in every booster. Wizkids was listening.

Mostly this is a good thing, though it does raise the concern that they may be copying S.W.M.'s rarity scale, too, which would mean collecting a complete set will be extremely difficult. That some of the marketing speak has that twisted logic that "collectible" actually means "difficult to complete a set of" worries me. So far there's too little information to react to in this respect.

All of the number-crunching for the set is still in progress and awaiting more info, including what the best market prices will be for bricks and cases. That boosters will now have 5 clix, bricks will have 10 boosters (50 clix) and cases will be two bricks (100 clix) all blended with the new set size being 60 instead of 96... there's going to be more than one way to approach the analysis. In terms of sheer number of clix to collect each year I'll note that because of the set size difference we'll be chasing around after fewer clix with these four sets per year than we were with the three per year we'd been getting.

So, rarity and market prices remain big questions, but so far the changes mainly seem positive.]

MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
These new rarity guidelines, along with other new ideas devised by WizKids, are targeted at renewing fan excitement when opening boosters.

Other plans include the inclusion of chase figures (2006’s Marvel Zombies) and the Lois Lane, Alfred Pennyworth, Queen Hippolyta and Wizard Shazam chase bystander figures for the recent DC Origin set, though fans should not assume that there will be some kind of chase figure in every set. The mighty monarchs at WizKids are quick to point out that they want to keep fans guessing about what’s around every bend.

Additionally, a renewed emphasis has been placed on highly detailed sculptures and paint jobs. This is especially true when related to rarity, as the high-end pieces will be of higher quality and detail.

Booster packs will now be 30 percent larger (5-figures), more resistant to damage, feature more dynamic art by big-name comic artists and will be priced at $9.99 each.

[Note: The new boosters look great -- I'll insert a graphic of them in a moment - and the smart decision to bump the size by 30% instead of 25% will allow them to include giants and double-based pieces while maintaining the 5 figures per booster structure.]


CH-CH-CH-CHANGES…
Avengers and The Legion of Super-Heroes Starter will introduce character cards similar to those used for HorrorClix. These will not replace the current powers and abilities card (PAC) currently used for the game but will supplement it. These new cards will not only allow for more individualized powers that expand the potential for play (for instance, characters such as Deadman or Phantom Stranger have unique abilities not easily translated from the general descriptions on the PAC), but they will also add a more “trading card” aspect of collectibility, as these cards will also contain character biographies and summaries of significant comic book appearances by the character to which they are linked.

Additionally, these cards will feature keywords for each character (e.g., for Iron Man: “scientist,” “armor,” ‘Ultimates,” etc.) that will figure in to how players construct teams in upcoming releases as well as past sets. The idea is to have bonuses that will be available to various types of themed teams.

Eventually all these cards should be available for download online at WizKids’ Website (just in case you lose yours), and there are hopes to one day have downloadable cards for all the previous figures as well.

[Note: All of the aspects tied into character cards and themes are easily the most complex of the materials to absorb, but the ability to give a special power to an appropriate character -- a sort of built-in Feat -- and the renewed and expanded emphasis on theme team building -- are laudable aims. That link is to an article by the set designer, covering how the game mechanics will reward theme team players with special bonuses.]

PLAY HARD
On the tournament scene, there will be less of WizKids just sending a bunch of promos to dealers and hoping they run events. There will be more themed events such as February’s Civil War tournament where players brought themed teams based around Captain America and Iron Man to compete (Cap won overall: BTW, poor dead Cap). Though WizKids works far in advance of comic book companies, which does not often allow them to theme their releases with major comic events, this themed tournament treatment will allow them to interact more with the comic fan.

Tournaments (such as “The Coming of Galactus”—see below in the “Upcoming Release” section) will be custom tailored for each release.

Additionally, there is an ongoing revision of the tournament structure. WizKids is working on integrating a new tournament ranking system, as used by games such as Magic. Gen Con 2007 will feature the first HeroClix World Championship, with players from across the U.S. and abroad.

Revised Wizard World Invitational tournament prizes will include airfare to and from and hotel accommodations (arranged by WizKids) at the next Wizard World show so the winner can defend his title.

WizKids remains committed to no-money prize tournaments, instead considering prizes such as tours of DC and Marvel Comics or the Geppi Entertainment Museum, or one-off gold-cast sets of figures.

[Note: I really, truly like the idea of that sort of special prize as opposed to unique dial and cost LEs. I don't begrudge the competitive players their gains, but don't make it a prize that tries to turn collectors and comics fans into competition-level players.]

UPCOMING RELEASES

HELLBOY & B.P.R.D. ACTION PACK (April 4)
Seven-figure set cross-compatible with HorrorClix. Includes Hellboy, Hellbaby, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, Johan Kraus, Roger the Homunculus and Ben Daimo. $24.99.

[Less than two weeks away!]

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY (May 5)
120,000 Batman figures will be given away. Though these figures will use the recent DC Origin Batman sculpt, they will possess stats different from that of the one in the current set.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES STARTER (June)
First set with character cards and new rules. Eight figures. 3D objects. $19.99 (new price for starters).

THE AVENGERS (June) [Note: June 27th to be exact.]
60 figures (plus “Buy it by the brick” promo). Heroes and related villains from Avengers, Invaders, New Avengers, Ultimates and Young Avengers, including the following:

Black Panther
Bucky
Captain America
Citizen V
Giant-Man [seen up top.]
Moon Knight
Red Skull (w/Cosmic Cube)
Spider-Man (Civil War with red and gold armor) [seen up top.]
Taskmaster (classic costume)
The Colonel (Ultimates bad guy)
Ultimate Falcon
Ultimate Hulk [seen up top.]
Ultimate Iron Man [seen here on the right]
Wasp
Wiccan

[Note: A Toro card's been shown and discussed by the game designer, and references made give some indication that he'll be part of this set, too. Whether or not he is, the above list of 15 characters represents a full quarter of what will be in the Avengers set. While there are a couple of dead notes -- I don't know and don't want to know "The Colonel" and Wiccan is someone who happens when you let someone parlay his writing credit with The O.C. into a comics gig and so he decides to load up on the 90210 intrigue -- but for the most part I'm very much looking forward to the set.]

Tournament play: “The Coming of Galactus”
Five weeks of tournaments at local game stores

July 5—Week 1: Players show up. It’s a two-booster sealed tournament (you buy in, get two 5-figure sealed packs—you don’t know what you’re going to have to play with till you open them—build your team of figures and play). Players get a new, never-before-seen Silver Surfer figure just for playing.

July 12—Week 2: Same as Week 1, but if you played in Week 1, you now have the option to sub in your Surfer for figure(s) on your sealed booster team this week. Players get a new, never-before-seen Terrax figure just for playing.

July 19—Week 3: Same as before, but you can sub in Terrax for part of your team. And players get a new, never-before-seen Firelord figure just for playing.

July 26—Week 4: Same as before, but you can sub in Firelord for part of your team. And players get a new, never-before-seen Stardust (translucent with cool, new glitter effect) figure just for playing.

Aug. 4—Week 5: You play for an ultra-limited Galactus. Same sculpt as previous with new stats and paint job.

Stores who operated these tournaments in good faith will also receive a set of herald figures and a Galactus for themselves.

[Note: The matter of prize LEs/tournament and venue prize figures in particular hasn't been fully addressed, but I was encouraged by what we saw a couple sections above and by a press release that referred to such prizes as "bribes" that shouldn't be necessary. That said, these participation pieces are a true win:win item; I'm looking forward to both the heralds and the Starro-controlled piece events. I don't at all mind the thought of going in for four weeks in a row, buying two boosters each time -- that'll be the new buy-in for these sealed matches -- and getting that week's exclusive figure along with whatever I pull.

If they stick to this sort of event -- though so far there's been no word of similar ones for Mutations & Monsters or Teen Titans, but those are so far off there's no reason to leak any of that for months yet -- depending on the rarity issues, the plan could be to get people into the habit of buying a brick and playing in these tourney matches. If one does that for Avengers, for instance, he'll pull 50 clix from the brick, and another forty from the tourney stretch -- 50 if he goes for the fifth tourney for the big figure. This would be the rough equivalent of a new case, the difference depending upon what sort of collation they'll be aiming for in an actual case.]

JUSTICE LEAGUE (August)
Same price and booster configuration as Avengers.
Tournament play: Title TBA
Same general rules as “The Coming of Galactus,” but with DC figures:

Sept. 6—Week 1: Starro-controlled Aquaman

Sept. 13—Week 2: Starro-controlled Green Arrow

Sept. 20—Week 3: Starro-controlled Flash

Sept. 27—Week 4: Starro-controlled Green Lantern

Oct. 4—Week 5: Play for Starro the Conqueror (new oversize figure).


MUTATIONS & MONSTERS (November)
Characters from X-Men, Planet Hulk, Marvel Zombies

[Note: Presumably this will bring us one or more versions of the Hulk, along with some of his villains. The Ultimate Hulk we'll see in late June's Avengers set, along with the 2099 Hulk seen recently, may give us some clues as to what to expect. Maybe we'll finally get some Hulks who finally act the part in games. Even where I might not be deeply into some of the source material, this has the potential to be a fun and interesting set.]

TEEN TITANS (February 2008)

[Too far away, too little interest at the moment. Check with me as we're approaching Christmas.

I've glossed over many sub-issues in this piece, but that's as much of a treatment as I can give it at the moment.]